Who Knows Best
by thelonglostpotter
Summary: What if someone had showed genuine interest in the Boy Who Lived in the weeks following that fateful Hallowe'en? What if someone had decided that, with his godmother and godfather indisposed and no Potters still alive, perhaps it would be worth looking into the boy's location? It was meant to be one small question, but it could change a small boy's life forever.


Chapter 1:

Lucius Malfoy paced back and forth in front of the Minister's currently vacant desk. He crossed his arms in frustration and glared once again at the office door as if trying to intimidate it into opening to reveal someone with news. How was it possible that no one in the Ministry of Magic was aware of Harry Potter's location?

"This is ridiculous," he muttered under his breath. The boy was barely a year and a half old yet had saved the Wizarding World from Lord Voldemort. The child was a hero, their saviour, yet his location was somehow a mystery.

Lucius sighed, this was a surprising turn of events, he thought sarcastically. Had this been two years ago, he would have been searching for this child who had destroyed the Dark Lord to destroy it. He would not have been trying to find it in order to satisfy his wife's concern for the orphaned child. It was Draco's birth that had changed everything for them. It was then that he realised he could not go on blindly following the Dark Lord, because it wasn't just his life it would be affecting anymore. Like a light switch in his mind, his eyes had suddenly opened to the cruelty of his Lord, not even just to their enemies but to his own followers. Day after day he became more aware of how often they were subjected to the cruciatus curse and how when Death Eaters brought their sons and daughters they too were subjected to the suffering and all for what? To follow a fanatical madman who's views extreme views on blood purity were hypocritical, Lucius had discovered his halfblood status. He had realised, his beautiful, innocent son would never be subjected to such a life of pain and torture. Lucius had, in late 1880, begun distancing himself more from the Death Eaters and through throwing a fair amount of money around the Ministry had begun to gain useful allies and respect, masking his personal reasons by claiming to the Dark Lord he would use his new position of influence to spy for him. Finally when Lord Voldemort had vanished that fateful Halloween almost exactly a year later, Lucius felt free. He used his influence with the Minister to avoid trial and was now a respected member of society, while many of his former colleagues, including his wife's sister and husband, lay sitting in Azkaban.

And so, it was due to his position now, coupled with the maternal instincts Narcissa had embraced after Draco's birth in June, that he found himself desperately seeking out his wife's distant cousin. After the Lestrange's attack on the Longbottom family in the previous week, it was clear that Harry Potter was not in the custody of Alice Longbottom, his godmother. Nor could the child be with his godfather, Narcissa's first cousin, Sirius Black as the man was yet another Death Eater rotting away in Azkaban. The news that Black had secretly been a double agent was one of the greatest shocks in the aftermath of the Dark Lord's disappearance. However, with Black in Azkaban and the Longbottom's in permanent care at St Mungo's, the question of Harry Potter's whereabouts had come into conversation at the Malfoy household. Somehow, the topic remained uncovered in the Daily Prophet, Lucius assumed the media was being held back for the boy's protection, however Narcissa's concern was precedented. The familial connection was not the strongest, the boy's grandmother being Narcissa's great aunt, but with the Potter line all but extinguished, they were as close as anyone could claim to the child.

"Come on," he muttered to himself, leaning against one wall with his arms crossed and glancing over at the large clock on the wall. Cornelius Fudge had now been gone for exactly twenty six minutes. Lucius was about to send out a patronus with a message for the man that his waiting for the day was done, when the door suddenly swung open and in stormed Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, followed by a concerned looking Minister. The man took his seat behind the grand desk and gestured for his guests to be seated before him.

Amelia took a deep breath. "We believe Dumbledore organised Harry Potter's relocation," she said. "But we will not be approaching him to confirm this." He held up her hand to silence Lucius's protest. "Approaching Dumbledore could lead to two conclusions. Either, he knows, will talk us into believing he knows best and keep the boy's location secret until he decides to tell us." Lucius resisted the urge to grumble in agreement, he and Amelia had recently complained enough to one another about Albus Dumbledore's need to control things for the 'Greater Good'. "The other option," Amelia began again. "It that he is as unaware as we are and begins to cause more problems for us in our search."

"But if anyone could find the boy, it's Albus!" Fudge proclaimed. "Well, I mean…"

Lucius sighed in agitation. They all knew the Minister's admiration for the image Dumbledore liked to project, while still preferring to keep the man at a cautious distance and hide his idolisation, in fear of losing his position as Minister of Magic to the man.

"We will not be approaching Albus Dumbledore," Amelia repeated sternly.

Lucius nodded. "I agree," he said. "So how are we supposed to find the boy then?"

"Well we have checked up on every family connection the boy had in the Wizarding World and can confidently say he resides with and has been seen by none of them. We checked friend connections too. Remus Lupin, Mary MacDonald, Matthias and Rosanna Greengrass, all in the dark and now equally concerned as us."

"So what?" the Minister blurted out. "He's just gone?"

"No," Amelia cocked her head to the left slightly, raised her eyebrows in irritation and sighed once more. "Lily Potter was muggleborn. We have reason to believe Harry Potter is in the muggle world."

The Minister's jaw dropped as he struggled with words, while Lucius exclaimed, "He's what?" It wasn't on account of prejudice against muggles, but on account of the fact that this was Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, and of all places he could have been placed for his safety, he was with muggles. Muggles with no magic and no protection against rogue Dark Lord supporters still on the loose. That muggle-loving old coot…

"Lily Potter's only living relative is her sister," Amelia looked down at the piece of parchment in her hands. "A Petunia Dursley."

"Well?" Lucius asked beginning to tap his fingers on the table agitatedly. "Where is the woman?"

"Well, the reason we are almost certain the child is with her is that we can't locate her."

The room was silent for a moment.

"How can you not locate her?" Fudge asked incredulously. "She's a muggle. A simple locater spell would do the trick."

Amelia shook her head solemnly. "That's just it," she said. "We've tried. No locater spell on either Petunia Dursley, her husband Vernon or son Dudley will work. Obviously, just trying to track Harry isn't working either."

"So, someone," Lucius began to understand, "perhaps Dumbledore perhaps not," he sneered slightly at how clear he knew his implication was, "placed Harry Potter with his muggle relatives and has somehow made the location unplottable."

Lucius had to concede, the plan wasn't the worst. As they had just discovered, Harry Potter's muggle relatives were the last place any one would think to look and, once someone had even bothered to learn of their existence, they were hidden by charms or wards, therefore well hidden. It was good in theory, however if someone found out the location, then what?

"Yes," Amelia nodded, "that seems to be the case we are dealing with."

Once again silence fell over them as they all sat deep in thought.

"Well he can't stay there," Fudge said slowly, as if stating the obvious.

Amelia halted his further objections. "They are his closest family," she said. "Though I strongly believe they should be located so that the Department of Young Wizards can run mandatory yearly check ups on the child, and so the Ministry is aware of where he is. The child is high profile and possibly still at risk, after all."

Both Lucius and the Minister nodded in agreement, this arrangement made sense. Though they would prefer the child in the magical community due to his status, if he was safe and would be happy with his muggle family, there should be no need to intervene further than checking up on him.

"The only question is how to find the child!" Fudge exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air.

"Directories," Lucius suddenly said quietly. Looking up he saw his companions looking at him with interest. "Sorry," he quickly apologised for his out of character mumbling. "Directories, I think they might be called." He shook his head. "Muggle books, big books with names and numbers that co-ordinate with all muggles."

Amelia smiled slightly. "I know the ones! It's a long shot," she hummed slightly to herself. "Yes, its worth a shot. Their address may be hidden from those too, if they truly are unplottable, but it could be these directories may be a loophole in whatever ward they are protected by."

It was decided, the muggle directories were the option to look into. As the three of them were lacking any other ideas, they hoped they would not be disappointed. Word was sent to the Department of Muggle Affairs and copies of directories they had in storage were sent to the Minister's office. The three were suddenly sat with six large and brightly coloured books stacked between them on the Ministers desk. With deep breaths and swigs of the coffee they had had brought to them, they began the tiring task of searching through the books for the Dursleys.

Three hours and two pots of coffee later, it was Lucius who reached success. There it was, printed in black ink, 'Mr and Mrs V Dursley, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey'.

Miranda Ellesmere joined their party, as the representative for the DYW, and the young witch was briefed on the situation. It was agreed they would depart immediately, as the child had been gone from the Wizarding World for three weeks, it had therefore been long enough. Fudge, after much persuasion, agreed to remain in his office during the visit, seeing as a house call for a minor was slightly below his job description. Lucius insisted on accompanying the two women, as the concerned family member who had raised the alert to the situation in the first place. They made their way to the apparition room down the hallway from the Minister's office and apparated one by one to the end of Privet Drive.

Lucius pulled his robes tighter around him and scoffed in displeasure at the sight of dreary muggle street. The sky was already darkening on the late November afternoon and the small houses only made the scene more dull in their differing shades of grey. Lucius shrugged his shoulders, as if to shake of the feeling of disgust at the distasteful architecture. He quickly followed after the two women already making their way down the street to number four.

The house blended in perfectly with the rest of the street. The front hedges and flowers were trimmed to perfection, every blade of grass on the dawn was the same length and there was not a speck of dirt to be seen on the crisp white door.

Amelia rapped on the door and they waited. The faint sound of a child crying began and the three exchanged smiles of relief, believing they had found the child. Then the door opened.

Before them stood a spindly young woman with a pudgy, red-faced baby balanced on her hip. Her beady eyes narrowed and her large nose scrunched up as she looked them over.

"We're not interested in whatever you're selling," she snapped and made an attempt to shut the door in their faces. Lucius reacted quickly and stuck his hand out to stop it.

"Mrs Dursley," Amelia spoke. "I think you know as well as we do that we are not here in attempt to sell you anything."

The horse-faced woman clenched her jaw and glared at Amelia as the baby began to wail

"We've come from the Ministry of Magic," Miranda said trying to smile and act oblivious to how the woman jumped slightly and how the child's wailing became screeching. "We're here to see Harry."

"There is no Harry here," the woman protested far too quickly, trying yet again to close the door on them. Lucius held his arm strong and kept the door ajar, narrowing his eyes coldly at the ill-mannered woman.

"I'm afraid, Mrs Dursley, we must insist on coming inside," Amelia said, trying to keep her tone light as she began to question what sort of situation they were walking into. "We must see Harry," she pushed her way past Petunia and walked into the narrow hall. The hall was a strange, pale mustard colour which irritated Lucius's eyes and he immediately sought relief by looking around. There was a small staircase on his right, a kitchen visible straight ahead, and a living room done in muddy browns to his left. Lucius liked to think of himself as a man of taste, and at the sight of this house he was struggling not to shudder. Walking into the brown room, he carefully smoothed down his robes and settled himself on a sofa. While Amelia took a place on the armchair opposite him and Miranda examined the photos on the mantel piece, Lucius looked up expectantly at Petunia Dursley who was lurking under the door frame, the chubby child still on her hip.

"Well, where is Harry?" he asked.

Her beady eyes darted around the room. "He not here," she finally answered. "My husband took him out."

"Out where?" Amelia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why didn't you say that earlier?" Miranda added, looking equally sceptical.

"I forgot," she held her head high and looked down on them, but Lucius was fully aware of how hard she was trying to avoid eye contact.

Lucius stood and patted his robes down, his eyes trained suspiciously on the woman. "Where is my cousin?" he asked slowly.

He saw the reaction of widening eyes his mention of 'cousin' gained. "You're his family? You could take him?" she burst out, then suddenly snapped her mouth shut. Quickly turning on her heel, she exited the room, heading towards the kitchen with her ball of a child.

"Did she just ask if we could take him?" Amelia whispered, eyes wide and a mixture of horror and disgust painted all over her face. Miranda nodded gravely and shuddered as she shuffled the clipboards in her lap.

The three got up and followed the path their host had taken to the kitchen where she'd put her son in a highchair and was warming up a bottle.

"Excuse me," Amelia said from the doorway, "did you just ask if we could take Harry Potter from you?"

Petunia huffed loudly. "Well, I'm just saying, if you're here and you're his family then why don't you?" She spoke indignantly and caused all three to clench their jaws. "I have to care for Dudley, I'd rather not deal with one of your kind if I can avoid it."

There was a cold silence hanging over the kitchen. At a lack of response, Petunia turned around and froze at the stormy expressions directed her way.

"One of our kind," Miranda repeated dangerously.

Lucius was about to pull out his wand and hex the woman when they were all momentarily distracted by a small cry from behind them. He swirled around but, seeing nothing, he shook his head and assumed he had been hearing things. Until he heard it again.

"What is that, Mrs Dursley?" he asked.

Hearing the cry again, Miranda asked, "Where is Harry, Mrs Dursley?"

"I, um," she stuttered, clearly freaked out by the sound of what was clearly a baby's cries. "That's just the TV!"

Not knowing what this 'TV' was, Lucius ventured into the corridor, determined to find the source of the noise.

"I told you, the boy is with my husband!" Petunia called from the kitchen, unable now to keep the note of desperation from her voice.

Lucius stopped dead in the hallway and turned his head downwards, he seemed to have located the source of the noise. He turned his head to look in confusion at the horse-faced woman before turning back to look at the cupboard under the stairs. He turned the knob and pulled open the door. He gasped at the sight of the small child sitting on a dirty blanket in a wonky cot, with a broken leg, squashed into the tiny space under the staircase.

"Dear Merlin!" he exclaimed. "Miranda, Amelia!" he called, reaching in and picking up the child. The child sniffed and his green eyes widened. Lucius took in the boy's trembling lower lip but absolute silence as he was removed from the cupboard. What had these people been thinking? "It's ok, Harry," he said. "We've got you now."

Holding Harry over his hip, Lucius closed the cupboard door gently so as not to scare the child. He stared pointedly at Amelia and Miranda as he stroked the boy's hair.

"Well," Miranda started slowly. "We know from the documents at the Ministry that no guardianship documents have been signed. Is that correct, Mrs Dursley?" she turned to the woman with a harsh and clipped tone. The woman flinched but nodded. "In that case, you clearly have no concern for the child so I think we'll be going."

Lucius started at her in shock as Petunia Dursley only shrugged and returned to trying to feed her child. He bit back the temptation to snarl obscenities at the devil of a woman, the good for nothing muggle, and instead focused his attention on Harry. The boy had finally stopped shaking and crying and had his big eyes trained on Lucius. He noted the distinct lighting shaped scar on his forehead and kept back his remark of surprise that that rumour had been true.

"I think we're done here," Lucius said, not looking away from the child in his arms. He vaguely registered Amelia and Miranda's words of agreement as he made his way out of the disgusting house. He pulled his cloak around the boy to keep him from the November chill. They made their way to the end of the street once more, passing every dim light lining the grey street, and, taking one final look towards the treacherous house where this child would have lived for the next ten years without anyone taking notice had it not been for them that day, they apparated back to the Ministry.

Upon their return, Lucius rather reluctantly handed Harry over to Miranda who would bring him to the DYW wing for a full check up with a Healer and to figure out the mess that was his guardianship. Taking one last look at the boy being carried away, Lucius couldn't help but notice those big green orbs not looking away from him, and his hand raised slightly over Miranda's shoulder and pointing at him. Lucius raised his own hand and waved slightly at the child before saying farewell to Amelia, who was heading to brief Fudge. He stepped into the closest fireplaces and grabbed a handful of Floo powder, throwing it down saying "Malfoy Manor!"

The familiar flash of green and spinning sensation sent him back to the comfort of his home.

"Lucius, is that you?" he heard Narcissa call.

"Yes, my darling, I'm home!" he smiled, pulling off his winter cloak. "Dobby!" he snapped his fingers.

The small eager elf appeared instantly with a crack! "Dobby welcomes Master back home," the elf jumped in excitement. Lucius could never understand how the elf was so happy and energetic, he always claimed he just loved to work. Even so, he couldn't understand how Dobby was always such a bundle of joy.

"We would like dinner in the small dining room within the half hour," he said.

"Yessir, Master!" the elf jumped into another crack! as he returned to the kitchen to arrange their meal.

"Lucius, welcome home!" he looked up to see his wife gracefully descending the stairs with their child latched on to her back. Narcissa gave him a quick kiss before turning around and allowing Lucius to remove Draco from her back. Lifting his son up in the air above him, Lucius relished in the light giggling and shining joy in Draco's bright silver eyes before pulling him into his chest for a warm embrace.

"Narcissa," he leaned in for another soft kiss, before setting their son on the ground feeling that familiar pride as he watched his son confidently stand on his own two feet. "Little Dragon," he leaned down to his little boy.

"Daddy!" the little child said, reaching out his small hand to stroke his father's face.

"How did it go, Lucius?" Narcissa asked, picking up Draco and taking her own turn to stroke Lucius's tired face lovingly.

He cupped her hand against his cheek and leaned into it, staring deep into her chocolate brown eyes. "I need a drink first," he sighed, keeping a hold of her hand and leading her up the stairs towards the closest living room.

o-O-o-O-o

 **So new story, random idea I had… Hope you like it!**

 **Please review or PM me, any response or ideas would be so appreciated:)**

 ** _thelonglostpotter_**


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